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Sylvanaar, Legendary WoW addon creator, dies

The World of Warcraft community has lost a legend, as famous addon creator Sylvanaar has died.

First Published May 30, 2021, 10:03

Sylvanaar, Legendary WoW addon creator, dies

If you've ever used Prat, Addon Control Panel, or WoW Instant Messenger (WIM) in World of Warcraft, then you've experienced the amazing work of Sylvanaar, a legendary WoW addon creator. Jon S Akhtar, also known as Sylvanaar by the World of Warcraft community, has died, after changing the daily lives of citizens of Azeroth with his incredible addons for over a decade.

Sylvanaar dies: WoW community mourns

It is with deep regret that we report the passing of Jon S Akhtar, an alumnus of the University of Texas in Austin, and a principal mobile app developer.

While the exact cause of death has not been shared, the WoW addon community is morning his passing as is evident by the comments on WoWHead's announcement of the tragic news.

Jon S Akhtar Sylvanaar addon wow WIM Prat control panel passes away dies (Picture: Twitter)

Sylvanaar's WoW addons helped countless players, as they improved the World of Warcraft UI by miles.

With close to 50 million downloads on Curseforge, Sylvanaar's addons were a blessing for the community. He is best known for Addon Control Panel, WoW Instant Messenger and Prat, three addons that many players can't go without.

One user on Twitter shared a story about the impact Sylvanaar's WoW addons had, explaining:

Sylvanaar was a constant presence in the WowAce days. I remember testing the IntelliJ Lua debugger feature with him on IRC. Prat is an essential addon and dev tool. When it broke, the WoW servers even had to rollback the change because so many players were using it.
— Ketho (@Ketho17) May 27, 2021

Our condolences go out to Sylvanaar's friends and family. It remains to be seen if Blizzard will honour Sylvanaar with, for example, an NPC in the game at one point or another.

Read more: Blizzard honours Reckful by adding him as Rogue Trainer in Shadowlands

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